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January 2010 - brianna.org

brianna.org

Monthly Archives: January 2010

We’re in the midst of a terrific snowstorm, real wrath of God type stuff (and while that’s a Ghostbusters quote, the subject of this post comes from our neighbor’s comment on the storm: “I hear today it’s supposed to be bad, but tomorrow it’s supposed to be Biblical”). The ever-watching They have been throwing around numbers like 5 or 6 feet of snow. It’s going to be a fight to the death between me and Josh to see who gets the last teabag tomorrow – loser has to hike in to town for provisions.
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We had a friend visit over the weekend and he made it off the mountain just in time, as the storm arrived. We did manage to get to the Getty on Saturday afternoon, which was delightful as ever – I can’t really think of anywhere I’d rather spend my time than in a museum. I love glutting myself on LOOKING at stuff. The Impressionists were in fine form, as were the nifty illuminated manuscripts on exhibit in the Reading library.
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Our writer’s group is keeping track of the books we’ve read in 2010. So far, I haven’t read any new novels, I’ve only re-read stuff I’ve liked before. This is mostly because my extra reading time is being taken up reading submissions for Strange Horizons, which is awesome and eye-opening and teaching me a ton. I’m really glad I bit the bullet and applied for one of their First Reader positions.

Okay so books:
1) Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut – I haven’t read this since high school, when I loved it, and when I finished it this time around I adored it.
2) Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott – I bought this secondhand just before I left for Greece, but didn’t get a chance to read it. Instead, I borrowed Jane’s copy, and finding my own copy in a long-unopened box was like Christmas.
3) My Man Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse – Pay attention to all the ways Jeeves manifests himself into the presence of Bertie. He “trickles” into rooms, “slithers” into them, “shimmers” even. I think I’ve read everything Jeeves at least twice.
4) The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell – yeah I freaking love this book, I think it’s why I wanted to be a linguist in high school.

I unearthed all our Saul Bellow and Discworld novels as well as Turgenev, Faulkner and Hemingway. I’ll find something new to read in the Bellow, or find myself re-reading Terry Pratchett over and over.
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While I’ve been sketching each topic for IF this year so far, this is the first one I’ve completed:

Hoping to catch up with the other two before the next topic is chosen. Only three weeks behind!